With a huge yawn and a few stretches to pump blood into his tired muscles, he let out a small sigh. He couldn’t feel his fingers from the countless bills that were shoved up his face. He had to single handedly count all of them to make sure nobody would try to steal, but to be honest he doubted any of them did. Those girls were monstrous.

He doesn’t even want to know how Yixing was able to gather them together.

Just as he finished bowing to the last customer who had gushed about this market having handsome men, which meant he was handsome too (making him feel pretty good), he looked at the clock and sighed yet again. He had done overtime work for four hours.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Minseok let out another yawn. It was getting late. "Am I done with work now, hyung?"

Yixing looked up from his phone, "What? I mean, yeah. Great work today," he said with a huge grin.

Minseok blinked. What was with that smirk, he thought.

Minseok took off his apron and grabbed his backpack from the office. "See you next week," he called out, waving his hand without looking back.

It was already dark outside by the time he had been done with work, so Minseok hurried home. Stomach rumbling, he couldn’t wait to satisfy his unending hunger. He yawned yet again, scratching the back of his neck.

His eyes closed continuously, screaming at him for some rest. He lightly slapped his face, reminding himself that he was near his house.

With more encouragement, he walked briskly.

He climbed the stairs in front of him and turned a sharp right. He was about to go further when he noticed something glittering in the dark.

Minseok squinted his eyes, before plucking what seemed like a ring from the wall. The ring looked beaten, wiry and dirty. A part of the ring was chipped off and left it in poor condition. He also noticed that the ring was tinged because of oxidation. He looked around in the dark alley, looking for the owner or at least someone else that might have a clue to who this ring belonged to. The streetlights gave off an eerie presence, causing Minseok to not want to stay any longer than he had to. So quickly stuffing the ring inside his pocket, he hustled home, making up his mind to go to the station tomorrow and ask the policemen to find the owner.  

He figured they would be of much help than he would to the owner.

He arrived home soon after he found his ring. Opening the door, he was instantly hit by a warm breeze, almost knocking him off his feet by the sensation. A loud clunk was heard and instantly, by instinct, he swerved his head to the right as a blade whizzed past his face.

Heart pounding, he walked over to where the kuni-blade had stuck into cement on a wall parallel to that of his house. He blinked slowly in a daze. After he entered his house, not forgetting to put his shoes inside the closet, he slowly closed his door.

“Mom?” he called out.

He stood waiting patiently for his mother to reply. “Mom,” he said more firmly, speaking slightly louder. “You home, honey?” a small petite voice came.

“Yeah, I just got home.”

He heard a chair squeaking against the floor before a thud was heard, followed by a painful groan. Smacking his head at his mother’s clumsiness, he stood waiting. His legs felt like pillars, almost as if he were frozen.

His mom came out hopping on one foot from the other with a sheepish look on her face.

“Before anything, I just have one question. Why did a knife try to impale itself into my face just right now? Please don’t tell me you got back together with your